In The Heart of Evil
by Evil Ottsel
Summary: For those who were stuck in the city when the outbreak happened, their favorite places turned into the gates of hell. Eight very different people have one similar goal. Get out alive. But even if they work together, can all of them survive ultimate evil?
1. Bar Fight

**AN: This is my first Resident Evil Story, and I decided to do it on the Outbreak games. I don't think this is canon, but it's the way that I want to tell the story. I just hope you like it fellow readers, and don't expect chapter 2 to come out anytime soon. You'll just have to be patient and enjoy chapter 1 for now. Let's begin.**

**

* * *

**

_"Daylight, is it."_

The person couldn't get those words off the mind. It had helped to destroy everyone, yet saved what could have been the sole survivor at the same time. The events that led up to that devastating encounter with what could arguably have been Satan himself would remain in the person's head for all time. All that was wanted was to forget the time in that hell once known as Raccoon City and live in peace. But, there was one thing that didn't want to be forgotten. The people. Those brave people that the only remaining human from the group couldn't have survived without. The survivor's mind went back to that night when this all started and where they had that chance encounter when they met in Jack's Bar.

* * *

**In The Heart of Evil**

**Chapter 1:  
Bar Fight **

**

* * *

**

**September 24th, 1998  
One Week Earlier**

It started out simple enough on the streets of Raccoon. No one would suspect what was to come within the next hour. Our story begins with ten people in a bar. Most of them never saw the others before, except for Mark knowing Bob since they were friends and co-workers and Kevin knowing both Will the bartender and Cindy the waitress since he was a regular customer. Everyone else was a stranger.

It was pretty quiet that day in J's Bar. Just the bartender and waitress, some old security guards on a break, a depressed cop, a man doing a crossword, someone typing away on her laptop, two men quietly enjoying their drinks, and a young looking woman walking into the rest room. Not much to do on a cold September night. A good time to unwind and drink away your troubles. The waitress walked over to the cop, ready to take his order. "Just the usual, Kevin?" she more stated than asked.

"Yeah, thanks Cindy," replied Kevin. "At least it's peaceful some places in Raccoon."

"What do you mean?" asked Will from behind the the counter.

"We've been having about three times the assaults than usual. It's like everyone has lost their minds or something. And to make matters worse, a quarter of the staff is out sick. I've been swarmed with work for the past two days now. I was lucky to get to the bar. Harry agreed to cover my shift while I was out."

"He sounds like a nice guy," commented Cindy as she brought him the usual.

"He is, but sometimes he tries too hard. I even think that he's covering more than one shift tonight."

"Well, I guess the S.T.A.R.S. suspension isn't helping any," said Will. "Although, I don't blame the department for it. Have you heard that ridiculous story they are telling about their trip to the Arklay Mountains? Who're they trying to fool?"

"You got me."

The news was on the TV, but no one was really paying attention, until a certain report started. "There was a disruption earlier in today's football match between the Raccoon Sharks and..."

"God, not this stupid thing again," complained a man in a brown jumpsuit at the corner.

"....the game was interrupted when an unruly fan..."

"Will they ever talk about anything else?" asked the same man.

"Give them a break," said the man in a suit to the left of him. "It's not everyday that someone bites into the neck of a pro athlete."

"Still, you don't think that it would be the only thing that they cover."

"I'm just surprised that the only thing that they're doing is talking about it," a woman in red said from across the room. She had blond hair and a lot of makeup on. "A real journalist tries to find out why he did it."

"I take it that's what you're doing," a high voiced man said from behind her who was working on a crossword. He had blond, curly hair and light brown skin. He was holding a coin in one of his hands.

"Yeah. The guy lived around here. I'm getting more information on the guy right now." The woman continued to type things into her laptop. While she was doing that, a young girl in a blue coat and glasses walked in and went right for the women's room.

"So anyway," the guy with the crossword said changing the subject, "does anyone know an eight letter word for a spinning gun?"

"Revolver," answered one of the security guards. He had a very deep voice, was bald, and dark skin.

"Much appreciated," thanked the man with the crossword.

"Wah!" Cindy screamed and dropped the plate she was holding, causing glass to fall to the floor and shatter. When she looked up, everyone was looking at her. She made an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. A rat snuck up on me."

"Again with the rats," commented the guy in the jumpsuit. "Something is going on with them."

"What do you mean?" asked Kevin.

"I'm a plumber and work in the sewers. I've seen what rats usually do. Recently, they've been getting more vicious. I swear that one of them ran up to me and tried to bite my skin off today. And that's not the strangest thing. Once I killed it, I could see the rodent's eyes. They were red. And I don't just mean a little red. I mean the eye was one-hundred percent blood red."

"Interesting," said the man next to him. "Do you think you can bring one of those rats back here to me?"

"Why the fuck would you want me to do that?"

"Because I'm a medical doctor, and it sounds like there might be a virus spreading around. If I can get hold of one of these rats, I can determine if we have an outbreak to deal with."

"You guys are really ruining my appetite," said the security guard. He turned to his co-worker who looked like he was taking a nap in his food. "Aren't you eating anything?" He got no response. "Hey, Bob." He shook Bob's shoulder. "Where's your mind at?"

"Huh," Bob said as he started to wake up.

"Is he okay?" Cindy asked worriedly. Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer to the bar. The man walking in has beat up clothes. His hair looked really dirty and he had his head down. Will was just cleaning up after Kevin when he saw how strange the man looked.

"What a weird customer," noted Will.

"Who is this guy?" asked the guard. Before he could get up to look at him more clearly, he heard a thump to his right. Bob had fallen right out of his chair. "Dammit." He knelt down next to him. "He's unconscious. Are you okay?" Although he didn't expect an answer, he hoped for one.

Will, seeing that Mark was busy, confronted the stranger himself. "Sir, can I help you with something?" The mystery man started to look up. Once Will got a good look at his face, he gasped. The stains that looked like mud were actually blood. He was about to call for the doctor to come look at him, but the injured man latched onto him before he got the chance. "What are you doing?" He asked before he felt an intense pain. "Aaaaagh!" screamed Will as the man bit deep into his neck.

"Will!" Cindy rushed over to him to help while everyone else was frozen in either fear or shock as to what happened. Will was able to push the man back outside before locking the door behind him.

"What the hell was that?" asked Will weakly as he sank to the floor. Kevin was next to get up and go over to help Will, but stopped when he heard something bump into the window. His blood ran cold when he saw what was on the other side. There were literally dozens of other people who looked like they were in the same situation as the man who attacked Will. One of them was rubbing its face against the glass, leaving a trail of blood, as it was trying to get in.

Meanwhile,

The woman that went into the restroom was no longer recognizable. You could now see that she was at least part Asian and actually pretty young. She didn't have the glasses or coat on and was in the process of cutting her hair. She stuffed the coat into her black backpack and put it over her shoulders. She now had on a lime green shirt and black pants. If you didn't know any better, you would think that she was hiding from someone. Satisfied that she looked different enough, she walked towards to door. That was, until she heard the screaming coming from the other side. It sounded like there was a riot going on. She would've thought about this more if it weren't for the bloody hand that was grabbing for her leg from the vent. She jumped back and began to get scared of what just happened, so decided to see first hand what was going on. She rushed out the door and saw one person on the floor with a bleeding neck and a waitress trying to stop his bleeding, a security guard trying to wake up his unconscious partner, and five others trying to push the barrels that were used for tables to the front door in order to hold it steady while a mob tried to break it down.

"What's going on?" she asked the officer.

"You're guess is as good as mine," he answered. "What I do know is that those barrels won't hold the door forever. We have to get everyone out of here, and were not using the front door."

"We're surrounded," said the plumber when he got back from checking the back door.

Kevin thought for a second. "Okay, we need to get to higher ground." He went for the door that led to the second story, but it was locked. "Damn it!"

"Ci-Cindy," Will said weakly. "The key is in my front right pants pocket. Unlock the door."

"Okay." Cindy reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. "Hey, miss," she said to the girl with the backpack. "Can you hold this cloth on his neck for me while I'm getting the door open?"

"Yeah, sure." She ran over to Will and applied pressure to his wound. Cindy got up and ran towards the door. As soon as she unlocked it, the hinges to the front door broke off and it fell sideways.

"Everyone, hurry in!" shouted Kevin as he ushered the other seven through the door. Bob finally woke up, but was very weak and had to be held up by his friend. The hungry people were starting to climb over the barrels.

"Come on, get up," the girl said as she tried to get Will to move, but he couldn't.

"Just go on," said Will, trying to make her leave him. "It's too late for me."

"But..." She didn't get to finish, because the people were right over them.

"Run!" Will pushed her out of the way just as they came down on him and started to munch on his flesh. She couldn't do anything but listen as the people chomped down and Will screaming his final screams.

"No!" she yelled, which made them turn there attention to her. Not wanting to end up in the same situation as Will had, she got up and ran towards the others. "Close the door!" As soon as she was in, Cindy slammed the door shut and re-locked it. They were safe, for now.

To Be Continued...


	2. Stairway to Hell

**AN: Wow, I got this up a LOT sooner than I expected. Either way, I like how this one turned out and I hope you do as well. Enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 2:**

** Stairway to Hell**

**

* * *

**"Oh my god!" Cindy was panicking. "They just ate Will! Will's dead!"

"We're all gonna die!" screamed the man with the crossword still in his hand.

"I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming." The reporter was trying to convince herself.

"Everyone be quiet!" Kevin screamed over them. "I don't hear anything else. They might have left." He put his ear to the door so he could hear what was on the other side. Nothing. "Okay, I think..."

SLAM!

They were banging on the door trying to get to the other side. Everyone could hear the dreadful moans the sick people were emitting.

"Dammit!" cursed the guard as he steadied his friend on his shoulder. "Everyone continue up! Now!" Most of them pushed their way up to the second floor, leaving only the guard, Bob, and Kevin who was now on Bob's other side helping him to walk.

"We better hurry," said Kevin. "Grab one of his arms and shoulder him. And be careful moving him up the stairs. Okay, Bob, was it?"

"Yeah, and I'm Mark."

"Okay, Bob. We need you to work with us. Can you move your legs?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now listen. Me and Mark are going to help you upstairs, but you need to do some work yourself. Just take baby steps and you'll be okay. Ready, let's move."

Slowly but surely they made it up. They had to move because the door was giving in.

"Hurry!" yelled the reporter when everyone else was at the turn to the second set of steps. She was guiding them up there with her hands and walking backwards until she backed into the window at the opposite end. It wouldn't have been a big deal if the glass didn't break inwards when a bloody hand reached in and grabbed her by the neck. "Aaah! Help me!"

The only ones that had guns were still going up the stairs and the rest of the glass was starting to crack. In a few seconds, she would be pulled through the window and to her certain death.

"Get off her!" Someone yelled and before she knew it, there was a folding knife being jabbed through the hand. It almost immediately let her go and the body attached to the hand fell down and hit the ground hard. When she caught her breath from the strangulation, she saw that the plumber was standing over her with a bloody knife. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you." Kevin, Mark, and Bob were finally there to joined them.

"No time to catch our breath," reminded Kevin. As if on cue, the door back at the bottom of the stairs busted open, letting all of the crazies in. "We have to continue." Everyone started moving again, except for Cindy.

"Why aren't you coming?" asked the girl in green.

"Will." Cindy pointed down into the crowed. Among them, was Will. Although, he didn't look too good. He looked just like all the others."

"Oh no," the woman commented worriedly. "Oh god, we have to go now!" They were starting to make there way up the steps. "Snap out of it! There isn't anything more we can do for him."

"Come on!" they heard Kevin calling them. Cindy ended up being dragged up the steps.

The doctor was the first to the second floor, but immediately stopped in his tracks. At the top of the steps was another one of those, things. "Guys, I could use your help here."

"What's going on?" asked Kevin.

"I need someone with a weapon up here, now." The person was slowly inching its way towards him. The doctor just backed up slowly.

"Oh crap," Kevin commented, figuring out what he meant. "Mark, do you think you can get him up the rest of the way?"

"I can handle it. Just help him out."

"Thanks." Kevin ran to the top of the steps, gun ready. As soon as he saw what he was looking for, he pointed. "Stop! Get back or I'll shoot!" He didn't stop. "I'm warning you! I will shoot if you don't stop!" It didn't want to listen to reason, apparently. Kevin aimed his gun to the center of his head and fired. Blood spilled out from the creatures new wound and fell over backwards. A pool of its own blood forming around it. Kevin lowered his gun. Everyone else had at this point made it to the top. All eyes now on the body in the corner of the room.

"Good work, officer," complemented the doctor.

"It's never good when you have to fire a gun," Kevin said sadly. "Cindy, who was he? You know, before he, changed."

"I don't know. I can't recognize his face anymore." The sad moment was interrupted when moaning could be heard.

"Cindy," started Kevin, "which door leads to the next story?"

"The one in the hallway to the left and the immediate door to the right," she answered.

"Okay," Kevin got everyone's attention, "everybody move." He led them over to the door, but again, it was locked.

"Can't you just break it down?" asked the man with he crossword.

"Jack had this door reinforced, you can't break it down," explained Cindy.

"Why the hell did he do that?" asked Kevin.

"Because there are hundreds of bottles of alcohol on the other side." The moans were getting loader.

"Crap!" swore Kevin. "What now?"

"We should build another barricade," said the plumber. "Grab anything you find and put it in front of the hall."

Everyone did just that. All of them were scrambling to find anything that could be lifted and put in the hall. They were running out of time and couldn't get much over.

"Looks like we're going to have to try and fight," Kevin said sadly. "Find anything that could be used as a weapon and get ready."

Once everyone found their makeshift weapons, they joined back at the entrance to the hall and prepared themselves. The groaning could be heard getting louder and louder from the stairs. Everyone was sweating in anticipation for the fight they didn't think they could win.

"Hey," the plumber motioned to the young girl in green. "Is that a nail gun?"

"Yeah, I think so."

He thought for a second. "I have an idea. Let me see that." She handed him the gun. "Stand back everyone." Though everyone stuttered at first, they eventually obeyed. Once everyone was back, he started grabbing pieces of plywood by the entranced and nailed them to make a wall.

"Nice thinking," Kevin complemented. "Everyone keep you voices down and they may not know that we are here." Everyone went behind the corner and held their breaths. They could hear slow footsteps going by the plywood door. No one dared to move as they passed it and tried for the door on the opposite end. Not hearing anything and since their brain activity was next to nothing, they slowly went back the way they came in hopes that the fresh meat didn't go too far. Once everyone heard the groans start to disappear, they let out a big sigh of relief and released their lungs for air.

"That was close," Cindy said. "Thank you mister..."

"King," answered the plumber. "David King."

"Nice to meet you David." Kevin put his hand out for him, which he shook. "Come to think of it, I don't know half of your names. We should probably introduce ourselves a little more. It might bring up our trust for one another and help us to work together. I guess I'll start. My name is Kevin Ryman. As you probably guessed, I'm with the RPD."

Cindy decided to go next. "I'm Cindy Lennox, and I'm a waitress here at J's Bar."

"Jim," said the guy holding his good luck coin. "Chapman. I work in the subways and I'm a big believer in luck."

"Please to meet you Jim," said Kevin.

"I'm Mark, and this is Bob." Mark motioned to his friend. "We're co-workers for a security agency."

"Alyssa Ashcroft, reporter." This was the woman in red with the make-up. "You may have seen my name in the papers. I always get the biggest scoops, evidence as to what's happening now."

"Um, hi. I'm George Hamilton," said the doctor. "Doctor Hamilton if you like."

Everyone turned to the young Asian girl. "What about you? What's your name?" Kevin asked.

She was silent at first, but later decided that it wouldn't do any harm. "Yoko Suzuki. I'm just a student at Raccoon University."

"Okay," Kevin started, "now that we all know each other, we need to think up of a plan to get out of here. Any ideas?" Everyone looked at one another.

"First of all, "said David, "what supplies do we have? I have a lot of scrap material and some duct tape. I could make us some more powerful weapon." Everyone emptied their pockets. There wasn't much to work with, but some of the items were more useful than they seemed.

Because there have been complaints or roaches in the bar, Cindy carried around a can of insecticide. David was able to tape that to his lighter and make a mini flamethrower. "The gas in the lighter should last for a while, but the the spray will run out quickly so only use it if you have to."

"Got it. Thanks," Cindy said and took her new weapon.

Alyssa had extra batteries for her taser, so David was able to use some of his extra wires and a pipe that was in the corner of the room to make a powerful zapper. He handed it to George. "Be careful with it. Don't put your hands anywhere near the battery."

"Got it."

After that, there wasn't really enough for anything else, which left Yoko and Jim with nothing. "Hey Cindy. Are there any weapons up here?"

She thought for a second. "I think one of the employees kept a handgun in his locker. They're through that door." Cindy pointed to the door to their immediate right.

"I'll go and check them," said Kevin as he went for the lockers. Once he was through, Cindy noticed a piece of paper on the floor that Kevin dropped when he was searching his pockets. She picked it up and realized that it was an application for the S.T.A.R.S. selection program. Kevin came back out with a new gun in hand and walked over to Yoko. "You know how to fire this?"

"Yeah." Yoko took the gun from Kevin.

"Hey, Kevin," Cindy called him over. "You forgot this." She handed him the paper.

"Oh, thanks."

"I see you're still trying to get into S.T.A.R.S.. What is this, the third time that you applied?"

"Yeah. This time, I'm getting in."

"Why do you care so much anyway?"

"I want to prove that I have what it takes to get the job done."

"Joining S.T.A.R.S. isn't the only way to do that. You were able to get everyone here to safety. Isn't that enough?"

"I wasn't able to save Will," Kevin pointed out sadly.

"Kevin. You can't save everyone, but if you save the people that you ARE able to save, than that means that your good enough for anything. You don't need a badge to say that."

"I hate to break up the prep talk," David said sarcastically, "but we're still down one weapon."

"Right. I think Jack always kept a firearm locked up in that room."

"Can you show me where it's kept?" Alyssa asked. "I might be able to unlock it."

"How?"

Alyssa held up her lock-pick. "Sometimes a reporter has to go deep to get the story."

"Nice," commented Cindy. "It's this way." Cindy guided Alyssa through to the next room. This one was long and narrow with trash everywhere. "It's in the cupboard at the far end. Can you really unlock it?"

"As long as the lock isn't too complicated, I think I can do it." Alyssa walked over to the cupboard and knelt down to where the keyhole was. "Looks simple enough, I think it shouldn't take more than..."

CRASH!

The two women could hear glass shatter and saw a crow fly right through the window. "How'd it do that?" asked Cindy. The crow was flying over them and looked like it was getting ready to attack. "It's eyes! There red!"

"Duck!" Alyssa screamed as the bird swooped down to try and peck away their flesh. "Cindy, can you kill it?"

"It's too fast." The crow was starting to attack again, but didn't get the chance. Before either of them knew it, it was on the ground, dead. It had been shot. Both of them turned around in unison to see Yoko about 20-25 feet away with a smoking gun. "Thanks Yoko."

"Yeah kid, thanks." Yoko just stood there with a look of amazement on her face. "How did you shoot it from that far away?"

"I don't know," she answered. "It was like it just came to me or something. Shouldn't you be unlocking the cupboard?"

"Wuh, oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me." They were all pretty shook up from the event. She went back over to the cupboard.

The door opened and David stepped in. "What was all the ruckus?"

"A crow flew through the window and attacked us." Cindy explained. "You said that rat you saw had red eyes, right?"

"Yeah, why?" asked David. Cindy led him to the crow's body and showed him the eyes.

"I think George was right. We may have an infection going around. Maybe you should bring him here."

"Good idea." David left and came back with George.

His expression wasn't good. "First rats, then humans, and now birds. All of the symptoms point to some form of rabies. A really fast acting form of rabies. I don't know for certain, but one thing's for sure. We are definitely dealing with a biological outbreak."

"Got it!" yelled Alyssa triumphantly. She was able to open the cupboard. "You guys are gonna love this." She pulled out its contents; a shotgun.

"Sweet," commented David. "Come on, lets go. Don't want to spend any more time here than I have to." Everyone exited back into the hall.

"Hay Jim," Alyssa called. He turned to face her. "What do you think of our new toy?" She showed it off to everyone.

Jim had a big smile on his face. "I call shotgun!" he joked. Alyssa handed the weapon over. "Oh yeah, baby. Luck's back on my side."

"Alyssa," Kevin got her attention. "Do you think you can use your lock-pick on the door to the upstairs?"

Alyssa examined the lock closely to see what she could do. "The lock is too complicated. There's no way this can pick it. The only way that we're getting through is to get the key."

"It's probably in Jack's office," Cindy said. "It's right over there." She pointed over to the door to the far left. "I'll go check it out. Be right back.

"Be careful," George warned. Cindy entered the room and shut the door behind her.

Jack's office consisted of a small room with a desk in the corner, a painting with the center hollowed out, an aquarium at the other end, and a balcony to the outside. Cindy decided that the most logical choice thing to do would be to check the desk first. The top of the desk had all sorts of papers and junk on top of it. Cindy tried her best to sort through the giant pile in search for the key. While she didn't find it at the desk top, she wouldn't give up that easily. Before she went to check the other areas, her mind shifted to something that she should have thought about awhile ago. "Where's Jack?" She got her answer when she felt something slimy and dirty touch her shoulder. When Cindy looked at her shoulder, she saw that it was a bloody hand. Jumping back in shock and terror, she was able to see that the hand belonged to what was left of her boss, Jack.

Cindy started to walk backwards slowly, unable to take her eyes off of the now infected Jack. Jack groaned and followed her. "Oh, hey Jack," she stuttered out, as if having a normal conversation would snap him out of it. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I'm just looking for the third floor key." He didn't slow down, even as they walked out to the balcony. "I see that your busy, so I'll just come back another time." Cindy quickly ran out of balcony and was cornered. Jack was preparing to lunge at her. Not wanting to be his dinner, Cindy took out the flamethrower, shook the can, flipped the lighter, and pointed it at Jack's face. "Sorry." She squeezed the top and flames started to engulf Jack's head. He took a step back and groaned in agony. Cindy took her chance by kicking him back a little more, moving to his side, and pushed him over the edge. A second later, Cindy heard a splat. Jack had landed on the concrete, dead.

"I am so fired," joked Cindy sadly. She was about to continue her search when something shiny on the table caught her eye. It was the key. "Yes!" she cried victoriously. Not wanting to be in there for another second, she joined back with the others.

"What took you so long?" asked Kevin.

"Sorry. I got a little sidetracked. Although, I did find this." She held up the key.

"Alright." "You go girl." "Sweet!" "Nice." everyone said in unison. Cindy blushed and gave off her famous smile. She handed it to Kevin.

"All in favor of getting the hell out of here."

"I!" said everyone except for Yoko.

She, instead, said, "Um, Guys," and pointed to the entrance. The infected people were staring at them through the spaces in between the plywood.

"Oh shit! They found us!" The infected started clawing at the wood and tearing it apart.

"Let's go!" Kevin yelled and ran towards the door.

"Bob, get up," Mark told Bob. Bob didn't move. "Come on man, we can't stay here. Move it, soldier!"

"I can't. The pain is too much," he said weakly.

"Hey doc," Mark motioned to George. "Is there anything you can do?"

"Maybe." He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a gun. Mark was wide-eyed. "Relax. It's just filled with painkillers and antibiotics. Hold him still." One of the planks came down, and the rest were soon to follow. George wasted no time and shot Bob in the arm. Bob could feel them working already and was able to stand.

"Let's move," Mark told him. Like before, Mark held Bob steady and helped him to the door. Everyone else was already in. Kevin locked the door again after they got in. Everyone rushed for the third floor. Seconds later, the final plank gave in and the hall was now full of the infected.

To Be Continued...

* * *

**AN: If you go on my profile, you'll see who my favorite characters are. You will also find a poll there for which person is you're favorite. I'm going to try something here. I want to know who you're favorite character from Outbreak is. If I get enough votes for one person, I may just decide input that into my story. If no one does this then don't worry. I'll simply continue the story the way I choose. So anyway, until next time, vote and review please.**


	3. Leap of Fear

**AN: This is going to be a long chapter and hopefully will make it worth all of the wait. The first few chapters have been going a little slowly, but it will pick up in not too long. The poll is still on my profile, so if you want you're voice heard, you better do it soon. It will be closed by chapter 6.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 3: **

**Leap Of Fear**

**

* * *

**

The group reached the third floor and stared in awe at the hundreds upon hundreds of drinks that lined the walls. "Don't even think about it," warned Cindy.

"It should be awhile before they can get up here," said Kevin. "If we can get to the roof, then we can take the fire escape down and run to safety. Cindy, how do we get up to the roof?"

"There's a shutter at the far end of the hall that will take us right up. Follow me." Everyone started following Cindy down the rows of liquor.

"I can't believe it," exclaimed Jim. "We're going to make it!"

"Reminds me of when I left Nam," Mark commented.

"You're a Vet, huh," said David.

"Yeah, so I'll be damned if napalm and rifles couldn't take me down but a bunch of drunks were able to kill me. I'm surviving this. I'll swear to god on that. Not that it'll matter any."

"What do you mean?" asked Yoko.

"God doesn't answer you're prayers when you really need him to. I just learned that now."

"I still don't..."

"As soon as I was on the plane home, I prayed to god for one very important, yet simple, thing. I remember my words to this day. 'Please lord, never again.' Yet here I am, right back in the battlefield."

"I don't think you should blame god for this," David said.

"Why?"

"Because this fucked up shit is about as far away from god's creation that I can think of. No, only mankind could make zombies a real thing."

"Wait a minute," Kevin stopped David. "Zombies? You're actually calling these people zombies?"

"Well, let's see. They attack humans, moan, infect living things once bitten, and apparently they make you come back to life after they eat you. You've got a better name for them?"

"I don't know, but calling them zombies is just plain stupid. Next you'll say that we need to go to the shopping mall."

"Hey!" Mark interrupted. "Quit with the stupid arguments! Do you know what happened to the soldiers who fought with themselves instead of the enemy back in Nam? They died, because in war, everyone either works together, or they die by themselves. If we let ourselves be torn apart by something as stupid as what to call these things, than there is no way that any of us will get out of here alive. The sooner you get it through you're thick skulls, the sooner we get to safety. Any more arguments?" Everyone was quiet. "Good."

The rest of the trip to the shutter went by quicker now that no one slowed down to talk. After three turns in the hall, the group made it to a heavy metal gate that separated them from the steps to the roof. Cindy went to press the button to open it and got her hand zapped.

"Shit!" she swore. "Of all the times for this stupid thing to break down..."

"Can't we just bust this thing?" suggested Alyssa.

"You can try," said Cindy.

"Stand back," Mark said as he grabbed a metal pipe in the corner and swung as hard as he could at the shutter. It rattled for a few seconds, but didn't even get a dent.

"Let me try," Kevin said.

"Don't bother," said Bob. "Mark has one of the meanest swings that I've ever seen. That thing isn't budging."

"Great, just when we think that we're out, we have one more problem to get by. I don't suppose that there's another way."

"No," Cindy sadly said. "This is the only way to the roof. We're stuck."

"Wait," Jim said." What about that vent over there." Jim pointed to a small hole near the ceiling at the top of a barrel rack to the right of the shutter. "If we could find a way up there..."

"We can't all fit through there," interrupted Kevin.

"No," Cindy said while thinking, "but if one of us gets through, they might be able to open the shutter from the other side!" Cindy got renewed hope in her mind.

"Okay, but how do we get up there?" asked Kevin.

"Why don't we just use the ladder," Jim suggested, pointing out the ladder to the top of the barrel racks that no one else noticed.

"But what about the giant gap between the two racks?"

"We use the box on the forklift as a bridge," said Alyssa. Cindy was in thinking mode again and started looking through the bottles of alcohol.

"We can't use the forklift. We don't have the key for it."

"Fuck!" Jim blurted out. "We were so close to getting out of here, and now we can't because of a stupid key!"

"Calm down Jim," Mark said. "Be a good soldier and keep your cool." He turned towards Alyssa. "Don't suppose you can pick the keyhole."

"No," she answered. "Doesn't work for cars or machinery. Don't want someone to get a hold of this and steal a car." Everyone thought for a few moments while Cindy continued to look through the racks. "Does anyone know how to hot-wire a car?" No one spoke up. The feeling of defeat was settling into them.

"Yes!" cried out Cindy. "Found it!"

"Found what?" Kevin asked.

"I found Jack's favorite beer." Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. "No, listen. Jack once told me that he kept all of the keys to the machines in a drawer. He also said that it could only be opened with the drink he liked the most."

"Wait," Kevin stepped in. "Are you saying that the bottle that you're holding is a key to the key to the forklift?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Nice going Cin," said George. "Where's the drawer with the keys in it?"

Cindy paused for a second. No one liked where this was going. "It's back in Jack's office."

"Of coarse it is," David said. "Otherwise it'd be too easy for us."

* * *

Back at the Raccoon City Precinct...

"Harry," said a man with graying-black hair in uniform walking into an office at the second story of the building, "we need you to come with us."

"I don't think I can Elliot," said a red haired officer with glasses. " I have too much work here to leave."

"Forget paper work. This is serious. A huge group of people are attacking civilians."

"I know, but other officers have already been sent down there hours ago. There's no need to worry."

"Yes, there is. The officers are dead."

"What?"

"Well, more like eaten."

"What!"

"I know how it sounds, and that's why we need to hurry. Now, where's Kevin?"

"H..He's at J's Bar. I was covering for him."

"Crap. That puts us down one man."

"Two, actually," Harry said sheepishly. "I agreed to finish up Rita's work and she went home."

"Dammit Harry!" Elliot obviously wasn't happy with his comrade at the point. "Get your gun. You're with me and Eric."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Gather up as much C4 and explosives as you can. We have a plan. It's risky, but we can't let anyone else get killed. Raymond, Arthur, and Dorian are going to be evacuating the immediate area as we do this."

"Okay, so what's the plan?"

* * *

Back at Jack's Bar...

Everyone was now at the door they just came through, knowing that they had to go back to where the zombies, as David called them, were in order to get to the roof.

"Alright, everyone know the plan?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah," replied Jim. "I protect Cindy as she goes into Jack's room and gets the key. You stand guard outside the door in case they see us."

"Good. Let's get this over with. Ready?" Jim and Cindy nodded their heads. "On three. One. Two." He paused. "Three!" David held the door open for them and quickly closed it as soon as they were out.

The trip back down the stairs was slow and quiet. The floor boards would creak when their feet pressed down on them. No one dared to make a noise in case the infected were right outside the door at the bottom of the steps.

Kevin was the first down, followed by Cindy, and Jim taking up the rear. Kevin put his hands on the knob, and slowly turned it. The door very gently opened just enough for Kevin to point his gun out. Nothing. That didn't mean that they weren't out there. They could've been just around the corner. Quickly, but quietly, he spun around, gun still pointed, and inspected the hall where the boards made the barricade. It was clear. Kevin gave the signal to go in. "Make it quick," he told Cindy and Jim as they walked back to Jack's office.

Cindy was filled with the feeling of dread. This was where she just killed her boss no more than half an hour ago. Walking in now didn't feel right, even though she knew she had to do it. The room gave off an even more spooky sense to it now that she knew what it contained, or at least used to contain. She tried to not make it bother her and get on with her mission, failing badly. Cindy was now trying to think of someway that Jack could use a bottle of liquor as a key. She was drawing a blank, until she saw the hollowed picture again. The hollow looked just like the shape of the bottle. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together. Knowing now what to do, she walked over to the oil painting. It was a tight fit, but it fit in the picture perfectly.

There was a clicking sound by the desk, as if something had unlocked itself. Cindy tried for the drawer that before was locked, and to her relief, it had opened. With a sigh, she sorted through the dozens of keys in the desk. It took her a little while, but she eventually found the one for the forklift. "Got it!" Cindy yelled over to Jim. He just stood there with a grin on his face. "All right, lets..."

bam... bam...

"Hurry up in there!" they heard Kevin scream. It was obvious what was happening, and it wasn't good.

* * *

It was getting pretty quiet up at the third floor. Everyone was just waiting for the others to get back with the key.

"So," started Alyssa to Yoko, "what's your story?"

"Huh?" Yoko asked.

"You seemed to have a pretty good arm back there with the crow. Where did you learn to shoot like that?"

"I already told you. I don't remember."

"You were serious about that?"

"Yeah. As far as I can remember, that was the first time I fired a gun." Yoko became deep in thought after that, as if trying to remember something. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a what looked like a cardkey.

"What's that?" Alyssa asked her.

"It's an I.D. for an Umbrella lab with my name on it."

"You work for Umbrella?"

"No. I don't know why I have this. I feel like if I keep this with me, I'll be able to remember one of these days. Right now, it's just a mystery."

Alyssa took a closer look at the I.D.. "It says here you're only twenty. You obviously didn't come here for drinks. Why are you in a bar then?"

"For awhile now, I've felt like I was being followed. I know. It sounds silly, but It has been really getting to me. I was starting to get scared; like I was going to get killed. I, ran. Just ran for it all of the sudden. This bar was simply the closest place I could hide."

The door to the down stairs all of the sudden slammed open with Cindy, Jim, and Kevin rushing through.

"We have to go, now!" Moans could be heard coming up the staircase.

Everyone ran back to the shutter, not daring to look back. Cindy was the first there and started putting the key into the forklift. Luckily, the lift controls weren't complicated to figure out, and she was able to get the crates up in a matter of seconds. "All right," she started. "Who's going up?"

"I'm the smallest. I should go," Yoko volunteered.

"Okay, the button to open the shutter should just be on the other side of it. Now, hurry up." Yoko did just that and climbed up the ladder. It was a tight fit but she was able to crawl through the tiny space between the stacks of alcohol and the ceiling. Slowly, she started crawling to the vent.

Everyone else, in the mean time, was either waiting for the shutter to open or getting ready to fight of all the zombies that had since busted through the door and were starting to turn the corner and get to them.

"Listen, Jim," Kevin started to say. "Your gun is only effective at close range. Don't go shooting unless they get too close for our comfort. Got it?"

"Got it," answered Jim. Even though he sounded calm, you could see he was sweating like a dog.

"Can Bob shoot?" Kevin asked Mark.

"I don't think so."

"Give the gun to me," David said. "I know how to fire."

"S...sure," Bob replied, very weakly, as he was leaning on Mark.

The moans were getting closer. A grisly hand was coming into view.

"Ready..." Kevin got them ready. "Aim..." They all tensed up on their guns. The first of the people was coming into view. "Wait for it. Waaaait for it." More and more of them kept showing up. "FIRE!"

Kevin, Mark, and David all started firing their handguns into the hearts and chests of their attackers. Despite all the bullets, nothing seemed to be fazing them.

"Somethings wrong," Mark stated the obvious. "No one should be able to take this kind of punishment and live, let alone still be standing."

"I don't get it," said Kevin. "I just killed one of them an hour ago, and I only used one bullet."

"You shot that guy in the head," David pointed out. "Thats got to be their weak point. Try blowing their brains out."

They all now tried to aim for their heads to see if that would even the odds. They had to do it fast. The zombies were getting closer by the second.

"Come on, Yoko," Kevin said to himself. "You can do it. I know you can."

Aiming for the head was starting to work to their advantage. While just shooting at one of the infected's heads didn't take it down automatically, they discovered that if they aimed at the center of their foreheads, it would cause them to go down. Some of the zombies were able to be killed, and their corpses made the ones behind them trip. Even though the group had managed to kill some of them, the undead were starting to get a little too close for comfort. That was Jim's cue.

With a wipe of the forehead, Jim cocked the gun, aimed at the closest one to him, and pulled the trigger. Jim was knocked back by the force of the gun and hit the ground. Once he brushed off the shock from the force, he looked back up at where he shot. What he saw was a body with the head completely blown off. That shocked him more than his sudden fall to the ground.

Even without the one man Jim blew to fuck, they were still in trouble. They were so distracted by the battle they were having that they didn't hear the sound of machines turning back where the others were. They only got out of their trance when they heard a voice screaming at them.

"The shutter is open!" It was Cindy. "Forget about those guys! Come on!"

The five men obeyed. With Kevin helping Mark move Bob again, they headed towards the newly opened entrance to the roof.

"How're you holding up, Bob?" Mark asked his friend. Even though he was still alive, Bob didn't give a response. "Stay with me, Bob. We can't loose you now."

After going through the shutter, they had to go up another row of stairs.

"Just up here and we'll be on the roof," Cindy stated. "Everyone hurry." They all did just that. Cindy and David were at the front, followed by George and Yoko, then Jim with Alyssa, and Kevin and Mark helping Bob in the back. But, they weren't the only ones making their way up the stairs.

"Shit!" Kevin yelled. "They're coming. Bob, work with us. We need your help." Bob only moaned. The infected were only a few steps behind them now, and they were barely over halfway up. What at one point seemed like dozens of people chasing after them, now became over a hundred people. If they caught up the the group, there would be no way to fend them all off.

"Ggggg...go," they heard Bob say. "Leave me before I get you killed too."

"Not a chance," said a determined Kevin. They were almost at the top, but so were the zombies. They only had a few steps to go. The three were going to make it... until, Kevin tripped on a step and fell down. Mark and Bob had avoided falling with him, but knew they couldn't get to Kevin before the others did.

Before Kevin could get to his gun, one of the creatures that were once human was literally on top of him, and the others were catching up. Kevin used his foot to keep the one that was over him at bay for awhile, but couldn't keep it up forever. He knew that he was a goner.

Time seemed to slow down for him at that moment. He felt helpless, afraid, he felt he let the others and himself down. Kevin wasn't thinking that it might have been because of him that the others made it to safety. That didn't matter to him at that moment. Sure he got them to the roof, but that didn't mean they were safe yet. They could all die and become like Will as soon as they were outside. As far as he was concerned, they were all already dead; and he could do nothing to stop it. All because of this, _thing_, that was any second now going to eat him alive. Kevin took this time to fully examine his killer. Rotting flesh, bloody hair, and the most horrific eyes he had ever seen. Those horrible, evil eyes. No pupil or even any irises. Just pure white and nothing more.

It was at that very moment that Kevin realized that the creature was no longer trying to gnaw at his flesh. It actually looked paralyzed. Then, Kevin noticed the doctor standing over him with his makeshift stun-rod. George turned his weapon over and hit the frozen enemy in the forehead with it. The infected man tumbled back to the bottom of the stairs and took just about every other zombie behind him with it.

Once Kevin's mind unfroze from the shock and put together what happened, he realized that he was holding his breath, and more importantly, realized that he was alive. After taking one big breath and shaking his head of the remaining shock, he remembered that he still had a job to do.

"You okay man?" George asked and offered his hand.

"Y..yeah. Thank-you." Kevin took his hand and was helped up off the stairs. "I was sure I was a goner there."

"Don't mention it. Like Mark said, we just have to look out for each other if we want to get out of here alive."

"Are you two okay?" asked Cindy.

"Yeah," replied George. They didn't have much longer time to talk. The zombies at the bottom of the stairs were starting to get up. George turned back to Kevin. "Ready to get out of this hell-hole?"

"Hell-yeah." With that, they rejoined the others at the top of the steps next to the door to the roof. "I swear to god if this door is locked."

Cindy turned the knob, and no, it was not locked. However, when she stepped outside, she was greeted with another crow flying straight at her face. Out of reflex, Cindy held her arms up to her face for protection, but never felt the crow hit her. She lowered her arms and saw David in front of her with a bloody knife, but no crow. Cindy then saw it on the ground. ___Déjà_ vu, she thought.

"Nice swing you have there," commented Mark. He didn't have time to respond, because they all started to hear more flapping wings. Once David spotted them, he expertly wielded his folding knife and took care of them like they were nothing. "Really nice swinging."

"Thank you David," Cindy finally said. "The fire escape is at the other end of the roof. We're almost there."

While they walked across the roof, Mark could tell that Bob wasn't going to stay conscious for much longer. "Just hold on Bob. We'll get you help soon."

"You know as well as everyone else that I can't make it down that fire escape."

"Don't worry. We'll think of something." Mark laid Bob on the side of a wall so they could rest before they moved on. "We've come too far to give up now. George, do you have any more medicine?"

"Yeah," the doctor said. "One second. I'll just..."

"No," Bob interrupted them. The others were more than a little taken aback by that. "Just face it Mark. I can't move anymore. I know me, and, I,I'm not going to be, someone, else's, b,burden." Without warning, Bob reached for Mark's gun and tried to aim it at his own head.

"BOB STOP!" Mark immediately grabbed Bob's hand to stop him from killing himself. Everyone else just stood at the side and let the two friends work this out.

"No. You don't understand, Mark. I'm no different from them." Mark just looked at him confused. To explain, Bob looked up to him and said, "I feel the hunger." Mark automatically knew what he meant. They all now knew why Bob was so weak for no apparent reason. He was infected, and was slowly becoming like the people they were running from. Mark took a step back, but refused to believe that his friend was turning into one of those, _creatures_. "So, please. Let me die while my," he held the gun up to his head again, "conscience remains."

Before anyone could do anything else, the trigger was pulled, and all Mark could hear was an echoing explosion from his own gun. "Bob?" he said as he leaned next to and shook the limp body of his closest friends. "BOB!"

No matter how hard he shook, everyone already knew the inevitable truth. Bob was dead. No one dared move or make a sound as Mark just leaned over Bob's dead body. They knew that they should give him a minute to mourn, especially Cindy. She remembered how she felt when she saw Will get munched on by the group of undead. She knew how he felt, and he needed time to gather his thoughts before he was ready to move on. At least, that's what she would be thinking if she weren't grabbed from behind.

"Ahhh," she screamed, making everyone, except Mark, turn their attention to her. She was being held by another one of her former employees. Without thinking, Kevin aimed his gun over Cindy's neck and aimed right at her grabber's forehead.

"Say goodnight!"

click...

Kevin froze as he remembered that he used all the bullets in the magazine on the ones at the third floor, and didn't swipe it for his other mag. That mistake might have just cost Cindy her life!

Cindy tripped on her own feet and fell to the ground, bringing her attacker with her. Now, no one had a shot at his head, at least not without hitting Cindy's head too. David and Alyssa were too far away and George couldn't use his weapon without electrocuting Cindy as well. The only reason George was able to use his weapon to help Kevin was because the rubber sole of Kevin's shoe grounded him from the electricity. Cindy couldn't keep him off any more, and the infected person was going to bite deep into her neck.

But he didn't. He was hit with with a metal pipe instead. The force of the swing caused his skull to shatter and destroy his brain. Cindy looked up to see the wielder of the pipe.

"Mark?" she said in astonishment. "Thank you."

"Me grieving over Bob wouldn't have been what he had wanted. He would have wanted me to help you guys."

"Bob made a noble sacrifice, Mark," said Kevin, after he changed his magazines. "He did what he had to do. I thank him for that, and I thank you for saving Cindy."

"Let's just find that fire escape." No one argued with him. They all continued to follow Cindy over to their ticket out of that nightmare. But, as Murphy's Law states, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

"Oh you have gotta be kidding me!" Kevin screamed as he saw the bottom of the fire escape literally swarmed with what appeared to be gigantic bugs. "How the hell could bugs get so big?"

"My guess is the same thing that made the rats, birds, and people go insane," said George.

"They must have heard the gunfire," David explained. "I don't think we can get down from this building."

"So basically, we're trapped."

"Like a rat in a maze." David and the others could now hear the infected people banging at the door. "And it's just a matter of time before they break down the door and get to us."

"Maybe we can keep them away from us if we climb over the fence," Jim pointed out the fence that was covering an elevated platform near the bar's big, neon sign. "I mean, it's worth a shot."

"Anything's better than just waiting here to die," said Alyssa.

"_Attention everyone,_" a faint voice could be heard below.

"Did you guys hear that?" Kevin asked. Everyone ran towards the edge of the building. There was a cop there with a megaphone, as well as a few other cops. "Arthur?"

"Due to the crimes in progress, this area will be closed off soon," Arthur said from below. "Please proceed to this checkpoint immediately. If you do not leave the area in time, we cannot guarantee your safety."

"Arthur!" Kevin tried to yell to his coworker, but he couldn't hear him. "Crap. He can't hear me."

"Kevin," Cindy got his attention. "Look."

Off in the distance, they could barely see some people running towards Arthur, and they were bringing some guests. A few dozen more of the giant bugs were chasing after the citizens. They wouldn't stand a chance.

"I have to go help them," Kevin said to the others.

"How?" asked Yoko. "We're trapped up here. If we even attempt to go down, we'll be eaten by those bugs."

"Maybe not," Cindy said. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, again. "The bugs are only blocking the fire escape."

"But that's the only way down."

"No. It's the only way down from this building," she explained. "We've been having kids jump across from the building next to this one vandalizing us. If we go to where the kids have been jumping..."

"We can jump ourselves," Kevin finished for her. They all heard the door they came through not too long ago bust open. "Well, we better do it fast. Where have they been jumping, Cindy?"

"At the edge of the platform."

"Then you all better stand back," warned Mark, because just like that, he started pounding on a portion of the wire fence with his pipe. It didn't take long for the fence to come crashing down.

"I see what Bob was talking about with your arm," Cindy complimented. The all too familiar moaning could be heard coming around the corner. "We better hurry."

Everyone pulled there way up to the platform as fast as they could. They could hear the infected slowly getting closer. Once they helped the last person on the platform, they all headed back towards the other end of the building. They could see the zombies through the fence come out the door and pile their way onto the roof. It was as if they were the only ones left in the entire block. They just prayed that they weren't.

"Cindy, how exactly did those kids jump across a gap like this?" Kevin asked while pointing out the pretty big space between the two buildings.

"You didn't think the space between here and there was going to be really small, did you?" she asked back at him.

"No, but when you said kids jump across, I assumed it would be a little less dangerous than this. I'm not sure we can all make that jump." They couldn't talk for much longer, since the infected were either clawing at the fence, or going around to where the hole in the fence was.

"I guess we'll have to take our chances," David said as he started to back up. "We're going to have to take a leap of faith." With that, he quickly ran to the gap and jumped for his life. For a second, it looked like he would fall, but thankfully, he caught himself on the edge before his foot could slip. He was across, and safe. "Just go one at a time," he yelled across to them.

"O...okay," Jim stuttered as he was getting ready. "David, catch!" Jim tossed the shotgun over to David so he wouldn't have to leave it behind. He started to back himself up. "Here goes nothing." With a deep breath, he ran and jumped. Being a little more athletic than David, Jim was able to get in a bigger jump to the building. "Yeah! Yahoo! What a rush! You all have to try this!"

"Glad he's enjoying himself," said Alyssa as she prepared for her jump. Cindy, meanwhile at the back of the group, wasn't paying much attention to the others as they jumped. She was more focused on the infected people, who at this point, had found a way to get up onto the raised platform with them. They were almost out of time.

"Cindy!" she heard Kevin yell from the other building. Her attention was drawn back to her comrades. She now noticed that she was the only one who had yet to jump. "Come on! Hurry!"

"Yeah, okay," she told them. '_You can do this. You can do this,_' she told herself. If she was going to do it, it would have to have been then, because the zombies were literally right behind her. Not looking back, she ran as fast as she could until she got to the edge. No turning back now. Cindy jumped, but tripped at the same time, causing her to not go as far as the others.

She hit the side of the apartment building and started to fall towards the hard ground below. Thankfully, something grabbed her arm and the only thing that happened was that the wind was knocked out of her. When she looked up at her savior, she saw it was George. Cindy couldn't stop smiling at him. George pulled her up with some help from the others. After she was safe, they gave her time to relax.

"How many times do we need to save you," George joked with her.

"Thank you, George," she said while catching her breath.

Everyone looked back to Jack's Bar. The infected that were chasing them were now plummeting to the ground below, still trying to get to them. They were all finally safe.

"Dumb fucks." David spat.

"You guys stay here," Kevin ordered. "I'll go help Arthur and the others."

"What do you mean 'stay here?'" asked Mark. "You're not the only one who can use a gun."

"He's right, Kevin," Yoko said. "There's no way you can take all those by yourself. I'm coming with you."

"Me too," David added.

"And me," George said.

"I'm not passing up on a story like this," said Alyssa, trying to hide the fact that she wanted to help.

"There is no way I'm letting any of you go down there," Cindy ordered, before smiling. "Without me."

Everyone looked over to Jim. "Well," he started, "I guess I've got nothing better to do. Okay, I'm in."

"Are you all sure?" Kevin asked, worried.

"I already told you," Mark said. "Everyone either works together, or they die by themselves."

Knowing that they wouldn't change their minds, Kevin went inside the building, everyone following, and pushed the button to call the elevator. He knew that they could all get killed out there, or even end up like Will or Bob. This would be nothing like the struggle they just had in the bar. Instead of running away from these things, they would be running towards them. Officer Kevin Ryman didn't know what he was, or would be doing. He just knew that people were in danger, and it was his job to protect them.

But at what cost?

To Be Continued...


	4. Urban Graveyard

**Chapter 4:**

**Urban Graveyard**

* * *

It was a massacre. That was all Raymond thought at the time.

He had just about had enough of these freaks. All that he was expecting when he agreed to evacuate the area were a few of those maniacs attacking civilians. He never expected for giant bugs to be there instead. His handgun was no match for their thick exoskeletons. The cops that got too close to those things were either jumped and eaten or stung with what looked like scorpion tails. The only ones left to evacuate the small amount of remaining citizens were him and Arthur. And what was worse, they accidentally lead everyone into a corner. The only door out was locked, and he wouldn't be able to get it opened in time. In short, they were fucked!

"Arthur! Raymond!" they both heard from one of the apartment buildings. It was Kevin, and it looked like he brought a half dozen more pedestrians.

"You startled me," Raymond said. "I'm surprised you're still alive. The whole city's a war zone." He reloaded his gun. "We need all the help we can get."

"That's why we're here," explained Kevin, motioning to the others with him. "How can we help?"

"Now," Raymond began, "move the police car over there to build a barricade." He pointed over to where Arthur was trying to push one of the cars by himself. "Hurry!"

Nothing more needed to be said. Kevin went over to Arthur to help push the car while the others tried to keep the bugs at bay.

George and Alyssa had an easier time killing them since one hit with electricity pretty much killed them, unlike the zombies where it only stunned them. While George could zap them from a distance with his rod, Alyssa had to get in a lot closer so she could taser them. This meant that she was at greater risk of being stung. She had to strategically dodge the swipes of the giant tails in order to go in for the kill shot.

Cindy found the flame thrower to be pretty effective at burning the giant bugs. She found it pretty convenient that she brought along bug spray, and now she had to kill a bunch of bugs.

Mark and David, seeing as though their guns weren't doing much damage, went over to another police car and started pushing it to complete a second barricade.

"Why aren't we driving these things into the barricade?" Kevin asked Arthur while he struggled to move the heavy car.

"Because the keys are in the digestive tracks of those things," Arthur nudged his head over to one of the bugs that Cindy just burned to a crisp, "along with the guy who was keeping them. Just keep pushing!" Kevin did as he was told.

"Damn! This thing is worthless," Raymond shouted, talking about his gun.

"I'll trade ya," Jim said, holding up his shotgun. "It's a bit too powerful for me anyway."

"Deal." They swapped their guns, as well as Raymond giving Jim his extra ammo. "Not sure what good it will be to you though. It can't penetrate those things."

"Yes, they can," Yoko corrected him. Both men looked over to her and saw that she managed to kill one of the bugs. "Aim for their joints. That's where the skeletons are the weakest."

Jim decided that it was best to listen to her advice. After he handed half of the ammo to Yoko, he spent the rest of the time practicing his aim with the less powerful gun, finding it to his liking. Raymond decided to get in closer to the action now that he had the opportunity to actually do some damage. Since he was a bit more experienced with the shotgun than Jim was, he was able to keep the recoil from bouncing back at him. Before anyone knew it, Raymond had shot two more of the bugs and were now on their backs, dead. Only about a hundred more to go.

"Barricades finished," announced Arthur while he ran back with Kevin, both rubbing their shoulders.

"This one too," Mark yelled, just as Alyssa finished off the last of the bugs on their side of the cars.

"Great," Raymond said. "Let's get these people out of here. Everyone over to that big door near the corner." He pulled out a key from his pocket after he said that.

"Why did you lock this door in the first place?" asked on of the three citizens that made it to the checkpoint.

"To keep out any of those people who we were sent to rescue you from," explained Arthur. "We were supposed to take a different rout out of here and then lock that entrance up as well."

"You're going to quarantine the area, aren't you?" asked another person.

"Yeah," Raymond answered. "It wasn't until the bugs showed up that..." He didn't get to finish. The small chirping sound the bugs made were getting louder. They had already made their way over to the second barricade. "Oh god. They're getting closer." Raymond quickly unlocked the passage. "We have to go, now!"

The doors swung open and all thirteen of them pushed through at the same time. As soon as everyone was in, Arthur and Raymond simultaneously shut the tall, wooden doors again and proceeded to lock them back up. A big sigh of relief was shared throughout most of the people there. As everyone caught their breath, they couldn't help but feel like they made it out of some old B-Grade horror movie. Now they were in a big stretch of alley. It ascended a little to a door that was a copy of the one they just came through.

"Let's not stop." Arthur tried to get them to moving again. "We don't want those things to get the upper hand on us, again."

"But we blocked them from us," a woman reminded him. "How are they going to get past the..." She felt intense pain coming from her leg right before she finished her thought. Not even within enough time for her to look down, she fell and started to get dragged to a drainage vent right next to where they entered. The bugs were pulling her back in!

"Grab her!" Kevin yelled. Him, David, Arthur, and Raymond ran to the now screaming woman and grabbed her arm to keep her from being dragged any further.

"Help!" she screamed.

"Just hold on!" David yelled to her. "We won't let you go." He could feel their grip slipping.

"Don't let me get dragged away!" She wouldn't stop panicking. Slowly she was disappearing into the vent. "Please! Help!"

"Come on, don't give up on us," Kevin tried to motivate her, even though he was losing hope himself. "Just, hang, on." His grip slipped, as well as everyone else's. All they could do was listen as the woman screamed in pain and misery as she was torn apart and eaten alive.

"We," Raymond tried to start up again, "we better block the vent before any more come in." As if on cue, they started to see more crawling through the holes, coming to get their food.

"Too late," Arthur said. "Everybody run!"

* * *

"Dammit!" the dark skinned, hairless firefighter yelled, hanging up the phone. "That's the seventh fire in the last 24 hours and the fifth that still needs to be taken care of. What the hell is going on with this city?"

"You got me, Gill," Danny, a younger black officer with a short haircut answered. "The fire department can't handle this many cases in one day. We don't have the trucks or the man power to do them all."

"We'll just have to have the trucks do the most severe fires first," another officer told them, already in full uniform ready to go to action. "We'll have a few people check out the others to make sure everyone gets out okay and observe the situation."

"Lens right, that's probably the best option we have," Danny commented. "We still don't have anyone to address the problems at the Apple Inn, though."

"Me and Charlie can check it out," Len volunteered, "if you think you will be okay without us."

"We'll be fine," Gill reassured. "Just make sure you report back in after your inspection so we know what to expect."

"I know the drill," said Len. "We can handle this, no problem."

* * *

"Keep moving!" Raymond yelled to everyone. The group was making its way up the alley and to the door, with the scorpion things back on their tails. George, Alyssa, and Cindy were in the back to take care of the bugs that caught up to them.

Raymond reached the door first and reached into his pocket for the keys again. After they were out, someone from behind bumped into him and he dropped them. Before he could grab them again, they fell right in a drain and were now out of reach.

"Crap," he said plainly. "Alright, fuck this!" With a cock of his shotgun, he aimed at the door and fired it. The door proved strong and kept locked.

"Shoot it again!" Arthur ordered. "It probably can't stand a few more hits."

Cindy, meanwhile, was busy frying the bugs as they got closer when her spray all of the sudden stopped working. "I'm out!"

"My battery lost its power," Alyssa said.

Raymond put another round in the locked door, but it still didn't break the lock off. George still had energy in his stun rod, so it was up to him to stop the bugs. For a third time, Raymond shot the lock on the door, and unlike the other times, the wood was now damaged enough to break apart. The lock fell to the floor and Raymond kicked what was left of the door. Both sides swung open and everyone could see a clear path out of the alley and to the next checkpoint, as well as a big drainage canal to their right.

"Follow me," Arthur told the others. The two men that weren't originally at Jack's Bar immediately followed him with Mark and David going to help out.

"Thanks for the help," Raymond said to Kevin and the others.

"It was... Look out!" Kevin warned pointing behind him. As Raymond turned around, he saw one of the bugs jump to him.

"Shit!" he screamed before blasting the bug. "Hey listen," he turned back to them. "You should go now." The others agreed and started to run to the others. While going back to face the bugs, gun ready, Raymond caught something out of the corner of his eye. "Huh?" When he got a better look at it, he found his suspicions to be correct. It was a tanker truck about forty yards ahead of them, and it looked full. Too bad he was distracted by this to not notice another bug jump to him. When he did notice, there was no time to run. He shot at it like last time, only to realize he was out of ammo.

Kevin, noticing that Raymond wasn't following them, looked back around and saw a bug on top of him. "No!" he screamed, making everyone else with him turn around to see the enormous insect bite into the officers neck.

"That's a fuel tank," Raymond struggled to tell them through the pain. "Leak, the gas. Use it to burn these bastards. Do it nowaaaaagh!" His face fell to the floor, still screaming, before he became deafly silent. Just the sound of the soft munches and the scurrying of all the other bugs as they slowly got closer to them.

"Kevin!" he heard Cindy say. "Snap out of it. We have to move." She was right. She knew what he was going through at that moment, but there was no time to mourn. Just like there was no time for Will.

"Right," was all he said. "The fuel tank. He's right, we can kill them all with it!"

"I'm on it," Jim said before running over to the truck.

The release valve was tightly shut. He had a hard time turning it. Eventually, Yoko and Alyssa came to give him a hand. While they were doing that, Cindy was detaching the lighter from the empty bug spray can and George was keeping the bugs back with the rod, although it was starting to run out of power.

* * *

Back over with Arthur, Mark and David had just escorted the others to the checkpoint.

"It should be right behind this building," Arthur announced. "We made it!"

"Hey," David interrupted the celebration. "I can't see the others."

"They might be in trouble," Arthur stated.

"Take these two over to safety, Arthur," Mark told him. "We'll go back and get them."

* * *

The slope along the canal was starting to fill with gas as the valve slowly opened. George had officially ran out of power in the stun rod and was now forced to hit the bugs with the iron pipe. Everything was now set for roasted bugs, but Cindy was having trouble starting David's lighter. Kevin eventually took it from her and lit the flame.

"George!" Kevin yelled to the doctor. "Get back!" And with that one warning, he tossed the lighter into the gas near the bugs.

It ignited instantly. They could see the things that have given them so much trouble go up in flames and suffer, just like they had suffered.

"Yes!" Jim cried out. "Burn you mother fuckers!"

"Guys," Yoko got their attention. "We have a problem." She pointed over to the tanker, and more importantly, the flame that was heading over to it.

"Oh shit!" Alyssa yelled. "It's gonna blow! Run!"

"No time," Kevin pointed out. "The canal. Jump!" Not wanting to get blown to pieces, all six of them jumped into the water at the bottom of the canal and held their breath.

"Where are they?" Mark asked David as they got back to where they last saw their comrades. It wasn't long until they saw the fire. "Holy shit."

David, seeing the tanker, knew what was going to happen. "Mark, run!" He quickly pushed the guard behind a building and ran for their lives. Not a second later, the tanker caught on flames and blew up. Everything that was anywhere near it was engulfed in flames.

There was nothing left alive.

To Be Continued...

* * *

**An: Up next, the real action and drama will begin. Don't forget about the poll on my profile if you haven't voted yet. Once I put chapter 6 up, it will be closed.**


	5. The Beginning

**AN: Today is the one year anniversary of this story being on this site. I would've liked to have put more chapters on here in this amount of time, but what are you going to do. Also, last chance to enter the poll on my profile, so if you want to do that, do it now. Enjoy chapter 5.  
**

**

* * *

Chapter 5:**

**The Beginning

* * *

**

The explosion spread quickly down the narrow passage. Mark and David ran as fast as they possibly could, the fire right behind them.

"Don't look back!" David shouted to the guard. A turn in the alley was coming up. If they made it to the other side, they should be safe. "There!" David pointed to the corner of the building. They both jumped for it, just as the flames were about to reach them. Once they hit the ground, they covered their heads from any debris.

* * *

Back at the canal, the explosion was starting to die down. Six heads came jumping out of the water and took a huge breath of air.

"Is everyone okay?" Kevin asked while counting heads.

"I think so," answered Cindy. "I can't believe I just did that."

"Wait, where are Mark and David?" George wondered when he noticed they weren't with them.

"Don't worry." Yoko assured him. "They went up with Arthur towards the checkpoint."

"The exact same thing we should be doing," Jim was reminding them. "Plus, we have no idea what's in this water; and I'm not wanting to wait and find out."

Kevin thought about it for a second. "Good point. Anybody see a ladder?"

"Yeah, but it's on fire," Alyssa pointed out. "Where does this lead to?" She was mentioning the dark entrance in the wall.

"I think it leads into the sewers," Kevin answered. "I don't want to, but I guess we have no choice. Just, watch out for rats."

* * *

The debris stopped falling after a few seconds. David was the first to get up. He was covered in dust and pieces of brick. "Mark, are you okay?" He looked down at the pile of destroyed building pieces that he knew the security guard was under. Nothing moved or gave any resemblance to life. David was getting worried.

_cough, cough._

David gave a sigh of relief at that sound. He started moving things off of his new friend and helping him get up. "Man, that was a close one."

"No kidding," Mark said with an irritated voice. "There's no way any of the others could have survived that explosion. How the HELL did that truck catch on fire in the first place?"

"It doesn't matter. Besides, it was a better death than being eaten alive by giant insects. Who knows how many bugs there were. Sooner or later, they would have made their way to the checkpoint, and we all would be dead. I hate to say it, but it was better off with this happening."

"How can you say that? People are dead, and you think that's good?"

"I don't think seven people dying is good; but odds are, they would've been killed either way. At least this way, everyone else is still alive. Don't try and pretend that isn't true."

"Listen, David, I..." Mark was interrupted by a moaning sound. A sound that was all too familiar to them by now. They both turned in the direction the sound was coming from, and saw another dozen or so 'zombies' coming right towards them. "I don't suppose you have any bullets left, do you?"

"No, I'm out. You?"

"Just one. I'm think that now would be a good time to run."

* * *

"This is disgusting." Alyssa had been complaining ever since she found out she had to go through the sewers. The thought of what she was walking in was bad, but the smell of everything was worse.

"If you think this is bad, try working in the subway." Jim was trying to lighten things up for her.

"Oh shut up!" She was getting more annoyed with him by the second.

"Easy, Alyssa," Kevin said while walking ahead with his flashlight to try and find a way out. "He's just trying to make this easier for all of us."

"Well, it's not working," she said angrily.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Jim was trying to calm her nerves now. "Look at the bright side, at least you got a great story for your paper."

"Yeah, and maybe now people will take my other one more seriously."

"What other one?" Yoko was now curious.

"I knew I saw your name somewhere before," George said with everyone now looking at him. "You're the one who wrote that one article about the S.T.A.R.S.' mission into the Arklay Mountains. The one they got suspended for."

"So what?" Cindy asked. "I've seen lots of papers about that. Almost two-thirds of both Alpha and Bravo team didn't come back after they blew up a mansion and the old Umbrella Research Center."

"Yeah, but if you read her article," George pointed to Alyssa, "you would get the explanation from the survivors themselves. The story was apparently so crazy, no one else thought it necessary to tell it. According to Miss Ashcroft's article, the teams were apparently attacked by monsters created by Umbrella."

"What?" Cindy couldn't believe she just heard that other people had been in the same situation as her and she never heard about it.

"They even went so far as to use the word, 'zombie.'" Kevin froze as he heard Alyssa say that. The exact word that David used to describe the men who attacked them. When he first heard the story from Chris Redfield, he thought they were full of shit and never once thought about these events being related. But once he heard her say that one little word, he couldn't deny it any longer. Coming back to his senses after his initial shock, Kevin met back up with the rest of the survivors.

"I think there's a manhole back up to the surface a little ways ahead. Stay close and don't touch anything if you don't know what it is."

* * *

"There everywhere!" Mark screamed. Everywhere he and David ran was full of the infected creatures. They were coming towards a dead end in the alley. There were stairs and a back door, but even that had three or four zombies on it. They couldn't even go through a window because they had metal bars on them. Mark was about to give up.

"There!" David pointed to a pair of dark blue double doors down a small sub-alley way.

"What if they're locked?"

"What if they're not? Their are only chance." Not wanting to argue anymore, Mark ran with David to the doors and pushed with all their might. For what seemed like the first time that night, the door wasn't locked. When they got through, they saw they were now in what looked like a courtyard. Before examining anything else, David took a pipe that was next to a door that was beside the two blue doors and did his best to wedge it into the doorknob so no zombies would be able to get in. "We have got to stop getting in all these close call situations. They're not very pleasant." Looking around a little, he saw what looked like a map of the place in the center of everything, but their wasn't enough light to see it that well.

"What have we done to deserve this?" David looked at Mark in a questioning way. "Why hath God put us in this hell? Why separate us from our families and destroy our friends?"

"You have a family?"

"Yeah. A wife and son. I guess you could call it lucky that they aren't in town at the moment. I just pray that they are safe. God, watch over them. Keep them in the light, and out of the darkness."

"Out of the darkness?" David looked at him questionably again. "I don't..."

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth; but in the beginning, there was nothing. And the Earth was without form, and void; and blackness was upon the face of the deep. In the beginning, there was darkness. And so God said: Let there be light. And there was light."

"I see. You fear the dark, because you see it as nothing. Nothing beyond, nothing before. You view it as an end to everything. You fear death, don't you?"

"I believe in the afterlife, but the thought of ceasing to exist on the Earth, the thought of something coming to an end, is something that terrifies me beyond anything else. In the beginning, there was darkness. In the end, there will be darkness." They were both silent for a minute. The constant ramming on the door didn't seem to faze them.

"Everything comes to an end eventually. Even the Earth won't last forever. What matters isn't when you escape the light and head to the darkness, but what you do when in the light right before you enter the darkness."

Mark sighed as he sat back up and looked around. "Where are we anyway?"

"I don't know. It's too dark to tell." They both shared a small chuckle at the irony at what was just said.

* * *

"Is anybody there?" Len and Charlie had just made it to the Apple Inn boiler room. The only thing was, they couldn't find anybody. They were standing over a balcony at the third floor looking down. It looked like no one had been taking care of the boiler for a while now.

"Len, you take downstairs." Len nodded and was about to head down the ladder when Charlie heard a ticking noise. "What's that?" It sounded like it was coming from the boiler itself. That's when it hit Charlie that an unattended to boiler is never good. "It's gonna blow!"

Steam started escaping from places it shouldn't and the whole room started to rumble. "Get out!"

* * *

"Hey, Mark, do you feel that?" It felt like it was coming from the room next to the exit. That's when it happened.

The door flew off its hinges and crashed into the ground. Fire blew out of the newly opened hole in the wall. A crack started heading towards the two blue doors before they themselves were cracked so badly they couldn't be opened no matter how hard you tried. The earth under David and Mark shook with such powerful a force, it knocked them both down. Finally, almost every window shattered as the entire building was set ablaze.

* * *

"What was that?" George asked. The explosion was so big, the tremors could be felt all the way back in the canal.

"Must have been a secondary explosion from our little tanker fire we caused earlier," Alyssa suggested.

"I don't think so. That one sounded further away," Kevin explained. "Come on, the manhole is just a little bit further."

* * *

The tremors started dying down about a minute after the explosion, so Mark and David were able to get their heads straight. Looking around, they saw just about everything on fire or starting to crumble. "And there was light."

Mark just looked at David after his comment. "Any idea what could've caused that?"

David looked at the center of courtyard again, and saw that the big stone object was actually a map of the building. "According to this, that came from the boiler room. Apparently, this is the Apple Inn Hotel. I was called here a few times with complaints about the boiler. The thing was so old that it was starting to break down. I guess it finally did."

"We had better find a safe way out of here before everything comes down on top of us."

"Good idea. First, I better see the extent of the damage so I can estimate the safest way out." David walked to where the door flew off the wall and stepped inside, but not before taking the pipe he used earlier, just in case. Mark followed him, not wanting to be left alone.

The boiler room was lit up everywhere they looked. It was obvious that nothing was ever going to operate properly again. What shocked them the most was the body of a fireman on the floor. Mark moved over to check his pulse.

"He's dead. I don't think he stood a chance." There was a small tag attached to the fireman's suit. Mark looked at the name. "Charlie."

This was all too familiar to Mark. Back in Vietnam, he pulled a dog-tag off of one of the dead soldiers. It turned out to be his friend. Just like back then, he pulled the I.D. tag off of Charlie and put it in his pocket.

"He must've come when nobody checked the boiler, but how did he know it was having trouble?" Before Mark answered, he heard what sounded like static and a jumbled voice coming from the corpse. Listening closely, Mark realized it was coming from a walkie-talkie on the fire-fighter's belt. Mark was careful while picking it up, not wanting to burn himself it it was too hot, and held it closer to his ear.

_".n. W..t. hap...g."_ A noise was coming from the other line.

"Excuse me?" Mark spoke into it.

_". .e." _Someone was obviously on the other line, but it was very hard to hear anything he was saying with all the static.

"Huh?" Still nothing audible.

_"C.m. .. ... lob.y."_

"What?" It almost sounded like instructions.

_"I.l mee. y.. the..."_The connection was getting lost in the static.

"Shit!"

* * *

"Len? Charlie? Anyone? Answer me! What happened to the Apple Inn? Hello? Hello? Damn!" Danny got cut off from whoever was on the other line. It didn't sound like either of the two fire-fighters, but the static was too much to tell. The building they were at right now was almost completely consumed by fire. Any chance for survivors was next to nothing now. The other calls they got weren't going much better.

"What the hell happened to Charlie and Len?" Gill asked.

"I don't know." They could see the outline of the Apple where they were, and they knew that it was now one of the buildings that were burning. "This is a lost cause. Every building is beyond saving. No one can stop these fires."

"It looks like the Inn isn't that badly burning at the moment. Maybe if all of our forces go there, we can save it. Plus, I wouldn't feel right at leaving those two to fend for themselves in that place."

"I guess it's the only thing we can do now. Call everyone you can and tell them to head towards the Apple Inn. We might not be able to save these places, but I will not let the Inn fall to the same fate."

* * *

"Any idea as to what he was saying?" asked David.

"I think he said something about a lobby, but I'm not sure." They both noticed a ladder that seemed to lead to the top floor. "Oh god." There was another firefighter with a hand hanging over the edge of the balcony. Mark was about to rush up the ladder, but David stopped him.

"Don't! This place was just in a fire. I don't think you want to touch anything metal."

"Well, we can't just leave him up there."

"I'll go. My gloves are made to withstand extreme temperatures." David put his hand on the metal bar carefully, just in case. He could feel the heat through the gloves, but not enough for it to hurt. Slowly but surely David went up the ladder, making sure none of his flesh touched the metal. As he got close to the top, it became obvious that the fireman was dead. David saw through his mask, and wanted to look away immediately. His face was too horrible to describe. David just prayed that death was instantaneous.

"How is he?" Mark called from below.

"You don't wanna know!" When he got to the top, he saw another door that led deeper into the hotel. "I think they came in from up here. Which means this might be an exit."

"Great. And the only way that I can get up there is if I burn the fuck out of my hands."

"I could toss the gloves down to you."

"Nah, don't bother. Besides, there's another door back in the courtyard. I say we stick to the bottom floor."

David thought for a second. "I'm coming back down."

"Wait," mark stopped him. "What was his name?" He was mentioning to the fireman besides David.

David looked around for an I.D. tag the same way Mark did for Charlie. He found one and pulled it off. "Len." He just sighed as he looked the tag over. "Catch!" David tossed the tag down to Mark, who caught it with no trouble. "You can appreciate that thing more than me."

David went back down the ladder, still careful not to burn himself. As soon as he got back to ground level, he turned to Mark. "Follow me." They went back out to the courtyard and David was looking at the map at the center. He pointed to the big square area in the middle of the area that said 'First Floor'. "This is the courtyard." After that, he moved his finger to another area. "This must be the boiler room. From what I've seen, there is no clear way to get to the entrance. From what you heard on the radio, we need to get to the lobby. That is over here." David pointed to a room at a corner. "I don't think we can get there from the first floor. Basically, I don't think either way will get us there without some sort of trouble. I hate to say this, but I think we need to splint up."

"Split up? You can't be serious. That's the exact thing people say in horror movies before they get killed!"

"Relax, we're not in a horror movie."

"No, we're just in a zombie apocalypse. That's much less terrible. In case you don't remember, I only have one bullet left! There's only one thing I can think of doing with it, and I'm not planning on doing that!"

"Well, I guess we'll just have to improvise."

"Do what?"

David went back into the boiler room. Mark just stood there for a few seconds before deciding to follow. He saw David crouched down near a bunch of rubble.

"What are you looking for?"

"A big enough piece." Right after he said that, he saw a piece that was as big as his head. "Perfect." David reached into his repair pack and took out his role of tape. It was then that Mark noticed David had the pipe from before and was now taping the rubble to the top. "Done." He was struggling to pick it up now because it was so heavy. "You can probably make better use of this than I can." Mark looked what looked like a sledgehammer.

"Sweet," was all Mark said before taking it in his hands. "What about you?"

"I still have my knife. I can make do until I find something else." David walked over to Charlie's body and picked up his radio. "We better take these with us."

"Why? We won't be able to hear ourselves over the static." He took it from David, anyway.

"Maybe, but maybe not. That call you got was from outside the building. If we both talk from close by, we might get better reception."

"If you say so," Mark said skeptically while looking at the radio in his hand. When he looked back up, David was gone. Looking around, he saw him climbing up the ladder again. "Are you sure about this!"

"No! But I'm not just going to sit back and die!" When he got back to the top, he looked through Len's body for his radio. After a while, he found it on his belt. "Switch to channel 5!" he yelled down to Mark before he turned it on and spoke in it. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Mark spoke through his.

"Great. If you find anything, call me." David went to the door at the end of the balcony. "See you on the other side."

"Seriously? You want to say _that_ right before you go off into a towering inferno?"

"Yeah, probably should have said something else." David slowly walked through the door and Mark just stood there. After taking a long breath, Mark walked back through the courtyard and went to the door into the building, ready to face whatever the devil threw at him.

* * *

"Here it is." Kevin had finally led everyone to the manhole back to the surface. "Can you give me a hand, George?"

"Sure." George and Kevin each took half of the ladder, climbed up, and pushed for all they got.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Alyssa said.

"Same," Cindy agreed.

"But, how do we know more of those things aren't up there?" asked Yoko.

"I'm willing to take those chances." It was pretty obvious that Alyssa didn't want to be down there any longer.

The manhole was starting to move from its holding place, when they heard someone on the other side.

"Give me a sign that you're human or I'll shoot!"

"Arthur, is that you?"

"Kevin?" They heard the voice say. George could see hands come from the other side of the manhole and help them lift it up. Sure enough, it was Arthur. "What are you guys doing down there?"

"Long story." Kevin didn't feel like explaining. "Just help us out of here." Dropping back down to the floor of the sewer, Kevin helped them all up the ladder. Yoko hesitated when it was her turn. "Relax, Yoko. It's all over now." When she was up, Kevin went himself. Reaching for Arthur's hand, he felt relief when the surface came into view. That feeling only lasted for a second. The first thing he saw was a burning building. Looking around, he saw a bunch of other things burning in the distance. Sirens could be heard far off over the sounds of thousands of screams. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought this was the rapture.

"I'm sorry, Kevin," Yoko said while standing next to him, "but I think this is just the beginning."

To Be Continued...


End file.
